Private Equity as Client and Owner

Twenty‑five years ago, the European private equity industry was still in its early stages and had yet to establish a firm position in the market. Today, PE has become a central driver of business transformation, capital allocation and value creation across the continent.

Twenty‑five years ago, VALTUS and Management Factory were founded. At that time, the concept of interim management was still largely unfamiliar. Today, with fee volumes of €2.8 billion, Europe is by far the largest market for executive interim management solutions—larger than the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa combined.

Executive interim managers and interim management providers deliberately target PE funds as clients. PE funds, in turn, actively rely on executive interim managers for their portfolio companies—and have identified interim management providers as attractive targets for their portfolios.

This article sheds light on the current dynamics, offering snapshots from several European countries and an overview of PE fund participation in interim management providers.

The next 25 years present major opportunities for both sides. There is much to suggest that PE funds and executive interim management providers will continue to work closely together.

The PE Market Is Regaining Momentum

After two years of subdued activity, the European private equity market is shifting from a period of stabilization to renewed momentum. According to Roland Berger’s European Private Equity Outlook 2026, more than 75% of surveyed industry experts expect the number of M&A transactions involving private equity investors to increase in 2026 compared with 2025.

This optimism is driven by several factors: deferred exits are now coming to market, valuation gaps between buyers and sellers are narrowing, and financing conditions are improving.

Overall European deal activity is already showing early signs of recovery. Transaction volume increased by 13% from 2024 to 2025, with Scandinavia, the UK and the DACH region leading the growth.

However, the recovery is increasingly concentrated in larger transactions. In 2025, global private equity deal value rose by 19% to USD 2.6 trillion, while the number of deals fell by 5%. The increase was therefore driven solely by larger average deal sizes.

Europe shows the same trend: while average deal value in North America rose by 29%, Europe still saw an increase of 8%. The market is becoming more selective, with fewer but significantly larger transactions.

These developments are good news for experienced executive interim managers. PE funds have clear goals; they need rapid, measurable results; they understand the importance of leadership; and under typical PE thinking (“normalized EBITDA multiple”), the payback calculation is straightforward: a slightly higher EBITDA and/or a better multiple at exit—and the investment in a top‑tier interim executive has already paid off.

Björn Henriksson, Group CEO of VALTUS, summarizes it perfectly:
“In complex situations—such as post‑merger integrations, carve‑outs, buy‑and‑build platforms or cross‑border transactions—value is often lost: between planning and execution, between synergy targets and actual P&L impact, between IT systems and reliable data, or between governance structures and day‑to‑day operational decision‑making. Permanent management teams are often overstretched. Executive interim managers clearly create value by providing immediate execution capacity, clear accountability and proven approaches from comparable situations.”

Which Sectors Will Shape the Next Era of PE?

The sector landscape in European private equity is evolving significantly. Technology, software and digital solutions led the market with around 800 transactions in 2025. This segment is also expected to deliver the highest growth rates in 2026 (Roland Berger).

At the same time, infrastructure is emerging as a major new investment field. In Germany alone, the government’s investment programs—totalling around €500 billion over the next ten years—are expected to trigger €200–250 billion in infrastructure investments. Mobility, energy grids and specialized civil engineering are likely to benefit disproportionately.

“Germany’s large‑scale infrastructure programs create enormous value creation potential at the implementation level. Portfolio companies of PE funds and family offices can scale rapidly by bringing in interim executives, professionalizing PMO structures and restoring margin discipline amid inflation and supply chain volatility. Interim CEOs, COOs and CFOs accelerate decision‑making, close governance gaps and convert public funding into predictable cash flows,” says Manoj George, Partner at VALTUS Germany.

Healthcare and pharma continued their structural growth in 2024 and 2025, recording a 41% increase in deal activity.

Emmanuel Fretti, Senior Partner at VALTUS France, observes:
“In France and across Europe, private equity growth will be particularly strong in sectors where buy‑and‑build strategies and operational transformation can create scalable value—especially in healthcare services, technology‑enabled B2B platforms and specialized industrial niches around the energy transition. These markets are fragmented and dominated by owner‑managed mid‑cap companies. Our work with PE‑backed scale‑ups and healthcare firms shows: the decisive differentiator is the ability to execute value‑creation programs quickly and rigorously with experienced leaders.”

In Italy, Pietro Butté, Partner at VALTUS Italy, also expects favourable conditions for private equity investment:
“Italy’s strength lies in traditional industries such as manufacturing and luxury goods—sectors likely to attract increasing PE interest over the next decade. In addition, renewable energy plays a crucial role, supported by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), backed by substantial EU funding with a strong focus on green investment.”

Business services, financial services and MedTech also remain attractive for PE investors due to their scalability and stable, recurring revenues.

What Is the Current PE Environment in Austria?

In Austria too, PE investments are returning to a growth trajectory after several challenging years. A key driver of current activity is the succession wave in family‑owned businesses. Many entrepreneurs of the “post‑war generation” are retiring, often without suitable successors within the family—opening the door to acquisitions by PE firms. Austria’s largest PE provider, Invest AG, focuses on majority investments in family‑run companies, often accompanied by experienced interim managers.

“We have supported several succession‑related transactions. Interim managers in these cases need a special talent and sensitivity for working with the culture of formerly family‑led companies,” says Gerhard Wüest, Partner at VALTUS Management Factory.

Axel Kühner, former CEO of Greiner AG and former top executive at Daimler, also sees strong potential in combining interim management and private equity in succession contexts.

PE Funds Are Investing in European Interim Management Providers

While interim managers enjoy working with PE funds, PE funds are increasingly investing in professional services firms and interim management providers. A prominent example is VALTUS, in which Société Générale Capital Partenaires and GENEO Capital Entrepreneur have been shareholders for several years. In February 2026, Polaris Equity joined as the new majority investor. Founded nearly 30 years ago by the Møller‑Mærsk family and Danish financial institutions, Polaris Equity supports the expansion of growth‑oriented companies. Polaris has known VALTUS for many years through its cooperation with VALTUS Nordic Interim and has repeatedly used their interim managers in its portfolio.

Other providers also have PE involvement:

AlixPartners has long collaborated with PE funds (Hellman & Friedman in 2006, CVC Capital Partners in 2012, and now two Canadian pension funds).
Atreus in Germany is indirectly PE‑owned: acquired by Heidrick & Struggles in 2023 (then still publicly listed in New York), it is now influenced by an investor consortium led by Advent International and Corvex Private Equity.
Even long‑established European providers such as EIM have begun partnering with PE funds: for international expansion, including the acquisition of the Magnalia Group (Management Angels and Gronova), EIM entered into a partnership with French growth equity fund idiCo in 2023.

Why Are PE Funds Investing in Interim Management Providers?

While we can only speculate about the motives behind PE involvement at AlixPartners, Heidrick & Struggles / Atreus and EIM, we know the rationale behind Polaris Equity’s investment first‑hand:
The executive interim management market at the intersection of consulting and executive search has been growing for years and is still not consolidated.
VALTUS has a strong track record of acquiring providers in other countries (UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland).
With the VALTUS Alliance and partner firms in over 30 countries across four continents, further expansion paths are already mapped out.
Demand from international corporations and large PE funds for experienced interim executives is rising steadily; providers with cross‑border capabilities have a competitive edge.
More top executives are choosing interim careers—meaning both demand and supply are increasing, quantitatively and qualitatively.
AI will become a game‑changer in the provider market, and new operating models will emerge.
Restructuring is considered the “supreme discipline” of interim management, and VALTUS holds a strong position with its network of restructuring experts.
VALTUS is recognized internationally as a premium brand—an important trust factor amid the rapidly growing and increasingly opaque interim manager market.
VALTUS is already an international company with an international management team: headquarters in Paris, a Swedish CEO (Björn Henriksson) and the restructuring hub in Vienna—an excellent basis for further expansion.
Polaris is convinced of the value of interim management and has used interim executives in its own portfolio companies for many years.
The coming years will show whether international interim management networks such as IXPA, IMW, WIL and AltoPartners will also seek PE support to invest in further growth, AI and quality enhancement.

The Next Chapter for Private Equity and Interim Management in Europe

The next 25 years in private equity and executive interim management will not be defined merely by the volume of deployed capital or the number of available interim managers but by the intelligence and precision with which capital and leadership expertise are applied.

PE funds and interim providers that manage to combine technological capability, operational excellence and sustainable growth within their portfolio companies will shape the next generation of European—and ideally global—market leaders.

Björn Henriksson puts it this way:
“In large, complex transactions, strategy creates potential. Interim managers turn that potential into reality.”

Private equity and executive interim management depend on one another—and together they form a powerful combination for building European and global champions.

Sources

Roland Berger, European Private Equity Outlook 2026
EY, Private Equity Pulse: Key Takeaways from Q4 2025
McKinsey, Global Private Markets Report 2026, February 2026

Valtus Alliance Whitepaper: Der erste globale Überblick zu Executive Interim Management